In today's workforce, both leaders and managers each have important roles to play in making sure work gets done. Leaders are the influencers who help grow and inspire others. Managers are administrators who make sure that the organization is running sm...

Big data breaches shouldn't be a concern for small business (but they still are)

Big data, in fact data of any kind, is a precious commodity for all organizations, so to fail to protect it is now seen as the death knell for any business. Although small businesses may not be as big of a target for serious hackers in the same way tha...

Malls are lumbering, claustrophobic dinosaurs, while anchor stores like Macy's and Kohl's are shuttering hundreds of locations. Fresh Direct and Peapod make it easier and quicker to stock a cupboard than wading through the jam-packed neighborhood Kroge...

With much of the country in line for more high temperatures as summer winds down, employers should be mindful of employees' exposure to heat hazards on the job. Although the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has no heat standard, the agenc...

It wasn't that many years ago that longtime Connecticut-area real estate agent John Lepore could quickly quote for a client the cost of eliminating a swimming pool, an amenity not in high demand among homebuyers. Not anymore. People want pools, especia...

Though mobile payments and wallets are increasingly popular, they're still nowhere near mainstream. A set of experts and finance-industry watchers weigh in on what's holding mobile payments back, as well what will need to happen for the systems to hit ...

The most concerning stipulations in a California safety bill have been removed. AB 470 would increase the number of requisite safety devices on pools from one to two, and mandate that residential pools be inspected before a home is sold. But industry o...

American manufacturing may be falling behind globally, but it's not simply because companies are shifting jobs overseas to save money. To put it bluntly, the U.S. isn't keeping up with other countries in training workers with skills needed in today's m...

Floating pools and suspended pools - some echoing designs lost to history, some testing the limits of engineering - are popping up in proposals all around the world. The swimming pool has never been an unpopular idea, but with the rise luxury multifami...

After British voters legitimately shocked the world by casting their ballots to exit the European Union, just about everyone has an opinion. Here are a variety of perspectives from and about the manufacturing world.

Social media offers your brand the best of both worlds. You get to talk, grow and connect with your audience. Plus, you get to listen to what they say to and about you. Creating and engaging with fans is where brands spend 90 percent of their time. Yet...

Since the beginning of the year, organic reach for brand posts on Facebook has dropped 42 percent. It appears that's just the tip of the iceberg for brands who rely heavily on Facebook. Recently, Facebook announced a significant change to their algorit...

WhiteClouds, a 3-D-printing company, collaborated on what it says is the first swimming pool constructed from 3-D plans. The project was for Cutting Edge Pools, which tapped WhiteClouds to show a client what to expect from a customized pool design for ...

Succession planning issues always are hot news, especially when it involves companies like General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway and, most recently, Disney. But enough about big, public companies. Succession planning is just as important in family-owned...

Watching Noah Nehlich demonstrate Structure Studios' latest innovation is like watching a magic trick. First, he puts on the floor something that resembles a mouse pad. Then he holds up an iPad. Suddenly, a pool appears on the screen as if it were inst...

Starting a business is an exciting venture. While the initial stages of starting out may seem difficult, the business endeavor can turn out to be quite rewarding as the profits begin to pour in. Once you have an idea about the type of business you wish...

According to a recent survey looking at consumers’ attitudes toward retail technology, omnichannel personalization solution RichRevelance found shoppers are still not comfortable with all technology has to offer the retail industry.

Think of a factory and smokestacks come to mind. "Green" building isn't in the picture. But factories around the world are going green at a remarkable pace. Today, there are 500 million square feet of green factory space.

According to emerging reports, Google is moving to make it easier for retailers and travel firms to promote themselves using better connection of search results to appropriate advertisements through its Shopping Showcase format. Shopping Showcase ads l...

Whether it's in business, the arts, sports, spelling bees or cake-baking contests at the county fair, wherever people compete, rivalries are inevitable. The classic irony, of course, is that as much as we may come to resent them, our rivals are quite o...

Researchers, politicians and business leaders are coming forward with strategies to accelerate job gains and investment in manufacturing. Their ideas range from pruning regulations that raise the cost and effort of running a manufacturing operation to ...

A lot of attention has been paid to the impact of mobile wallets in the payment technology arena. However, other technologies are also emerging to make payment, among other shopping activities, easier and more efficient. For example, 1-800-Flowers.com ...

For those looking for recipe, DIY, wedding or other visual ideas, the first social media platform that comes to mind is Pinterest. With more than 100 million monthly users, Pinterest is the third biggest social media platform, behind giants Facebook an...

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division recently disclosed the details of its final revised regulations relating to certain "white collar" salary exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In brief, the minimum salary threshol...

Consumers are embracing mobile payment applications, with more than 25 percent of smartphone owners in the United States using these platforms at least once a month, according to new research from Parks Associates. The report, Context is King: Monetizi...

That sound of nervous pacing you hear every night at 3 a.m.? It's America's retail executives. They're feeling the pressures of a rapidly evolving sales landscape and trying to figure out how to stay one step ahead - or just keep up.

The Y-40 is not the place to go for a leisurely splash. At 131 feet deep, it's been awarded a Guinness World Record for the deepest pool for diving that's ever been built. That would be the equivalent of a 14-storey building towering out of the ground....

To many Australians, the country's pools are more than places to cool off - they're hubs of social, cultural, and recreational interaction. It's little wonder, then, that the Australian pavilion at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale features a sw...

Of the challenges we as an industry have faced over the last several years, one tops the list: the evolution of consumer buying and shopping habits. Many of the greatest retailers today understand that to win over the consumer, they have to become appe...

We all see the same government-supplied numbers on the U.S. economy each month — the jobs added, the unemployment rate, the Fed's interest rate. But what those numbers mean to your small business is often quite different from what they mean to th...

How digital is changing the way brands, retailers reach consumers in-store

At its most elemental, shopper marketing is centered on influencing purchase decisions and driving sales. Historically, that meant in-store, but thanks to digital commerce, consumers increasingly are in shopping mode at home and outside the walls of ph...